Release Date – TBC, Cert – TBC, Run-time – 1 hour 37 minutes, Director – Samuel Abrahams
Isolated Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford) welcomes a camera crew into her estate to make a documentary about her in the build-up to her youth talent show, however over time she starts to lose herself in her home.
Lady Isabella (Sian Clifford) wants to present herself as “the aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians.” A relevant, up-to-date figure of popularity who wants to use her wealth to help others – in this case by hosting the Stately Stars talent competition, which she herself will take part in, despite not having an act. Yet, even when announcing all of this to the camera crew she’s hired to follow her, led by Laurie Kynaston’s BAFTA-nominated (instead of winning) director Sam there’s an awkwardness to the character, brilliantly conveyed by Clifford, whose seeming isolation has led her to act up to the camera and those around her. She’s aware of herself and yet at the same time has no self awareness of how she comes across because of this.
With a number of great quotes in these opening stages Clifford brings in plenty of laughs very early on thanks to the awkwardness of her character. Things are comfortably set up to be about her character’s distance from the rest of the world – despite her best efforts to do good, “I pay minimum wage, I recycle – well, someone here does” – until the most sudden of left turns that introduces an almost unbelievable turnaround in what starts to happen within the confines of the titular Lady’s estate.
To give away this change in focus would be to, in some way, perhaps spoil the film. Where things start to turn narratively in some ways look at Isabella losing herself in her expansive home. While the turn may lead to some patchier sequences; including one drug trip which sits uncertainly in the film, there are still some good laughs to be found amongst the more hit-or-miss gags. Yet, the way in which this thread is dealt with wavers the more it goes on, despite the amusing suddenness when first revealed, as is the case for the film as a whole.
When leaning into more dramatic territory, largely regarding Isabella’s past relationships, reasons for isolation and relationship with Sam and the documentary crew, the film is at its patchiest. The closing stages feel, much like the gags increasingly become, patchy and not everything lands. Clifford may still make plenty of hesitant glances to camera to get a good chuckle but they’re not quite enough to hold up the weight the film creates for itself with the turns that it takes into each new act.
There’s certainly an attempt to pull off a surprise, and a surprise is certainly the case, and while there’s enough here to see things through they do start to struggle and draw things out the more they go on. Yes, there are chuckles thanks to Clifford’s performance of light-headed, slightly unaware lead who acts as the draw of the film from start to finish, but the gap between them eventually grows as the film appears slightly more uncertain when it comes to dealing with its developments beyond the simple mockumentary awkwardness.
As the laughs grow more hit-or-miss and the narrative turns lead to patchier sequences, Lady still has an enjoyably awkward central performance from Sian Clifford who acts as the constant, bringing a good number of laughs, throughout the film.
Just A Little Bit Random 